Chapter Four.
The Nomad.
"Split up! We need to find him before he hurts himself or anypony else!" Sunny ordered, throwing open the doors of Mane Melody, "Hitch! Try and calm everypony down!" She added.
"On it!" Hitch replied, racing towards the Sheriff's office.
"Zipp! Eyes in the sky!"
"On it Sunny!" Zipp took off into the air.
"Izzy! You take the west end of town, I'll take the east end!"
"Aye aye Sunny!" The unicorn galloped away.
"And Pipp, stay here in case he comes back!" Sunny took off down the street, dodging the screaming ponies.
"Why do I have to stay here?!" Pipp shouted, her voice falling on deaf ears, "Urgh!" She screamed, wings flaring out in frustration. She pulled out her phone and proceeded to scroll through Canternet as Hitch returned with a megaphone.
"Aren't you gonna help Pipp?" Hitch asked, slightly out of breath.
"Can't. Sunny told me to stay here in case he comes back. So that is what I'm gonna do." She said bluntly, eyes glued onto her phone screen as she played a matching game. Hitch shrugged and ran off down the street, yelling into the megaphone, telling the scared townsfolk to remain calm.
Pipp's face lit up, her phone screen flashing the words 'NEW HIGH SCORE!" As she continued playing her matching game. A message popped up on her screen. It was from Sunny in the group chat.
"Found him yet?" She asked.
"Nope." Izzy's chatbox said.
"Nothing so far." Zipp responded.
"So far, no sign of him." Pipp taped out a quick reply before closing the messaging app. She let out a deep sigh and quickly looked around. Hitch's use of the megaphone had worked a charm, while they were still on edge, the townsfolk had gone back to business.
Pipp slowly lowered her rump down onto the ground and hummed to herself as she sat in deep thought, and then an idea struck her. "I wonder..." Quickly rising to her hooves, she took off into a sprint up the alley.
Pipp skidded to a stop by the trash cans where she first encountered the now-missing human. Looking down, she spotted some dried blood, clearly from where the human had fallen after she had hit him. She looked over at her broken umbrella, still laying where she had thrown it. Her ears twitched as she heard a sound coming from behind what she assumed to be crates covered with sheeting.
"Is that..." She listened closer, "Crying?" She added, slowly and quietly stepping towards the sound. She poked her head around the corner, spotting the human sitting on the ground, back against the wall.
"Oh! There you are!" She smiled with genuine relief, "We've been looking all over for you." She trotted over in front of him.
"Oh... It's you, Princess. Leave me alone." He replied, briefly looking up at the pink pegasus before returning his gaze to his knees.
"Not gonna happen. I'm Pipp Petals, friends to all. And you, Mr Wyne, you need a friend more than anything right now." She trotted over and sat down next to David. She looked at him, her face becoming more serious, "I know what it's like to lose a family." She spoke softly, exhaling deeply as bad memories entered her mind just at the thought of them.
"Is that meant to make me feel better, Princess?" David said bluntly.
"Please. Don't call me Princess." Pipp grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"But, you are a Princess." He looked up at her.
"I'm A Princess, not THE Princess. That honour goes to Zipp. She's the firstborn and the heir." She turned to face him, "And I'm just the spare." Her lips pouted, "Anyway, my point being is that you don't need to grieve on your own." She smiled, placing a hoof on his knee.
"If it's not too personal. Who did you lose?" David replied, wiping his eyes.
"My father." Pipp looked down, "It started as a simple cough, but it got worse to the point where he was bedridden. Then one night, he passed away." She paused as she felt David place his hand on her back, gently patting her, "So, believe me when I say I know the feeling. Might not be the same pain as losing your wife and child to time, but it's still pain." She leant over, resting her head on his shoulder.
"What was his name?" David asked the mare, she looked up.
"King Zephyr. We renamed the city after him when he passed away. I was only 6 when he died, so I don't have many memories of him." She sighed, "Now if it's not too personal, I'd like to know about your foot. You said it was lost in an accident, but how exactly?" She pointed to David's left foot.
"It was simply a car crash, the foot was too badly damaged to be saved." He replied, leaning forwards and pulling up the pant leg. He ran his leg over the metal plating that held the foot onto his leg just above where the ankle should be. Without much thought, he pulled the locking pin out, detaching the foot and passing it over the Pipp.
"Take a closer look if you want. As I told Sunny and that Unicorn."
"Izzy." Pipp corrected, gently turning the foot around.
"As I told Izzy, it's not the most advanced thing, but it gets the job done." He looked at the mare as she inspected the artificial limb.
"What's a car?" She tilted her head as she passed the foot back to David.
"Think of it as a..." He looked down the alley as he saw a tram pass by, "Think of it as like that tram over there, but not restricted to the rails, a car can go down any road it can legally fit on." He looked at Pipp, the mare nodding with a smile as he reattached the foot, "I was even driving a car when I ended up here, I had to hide it for now since even ponies in my time didn't like the concept of a car."
"Where did you hide it? If you're ok with telling me." Pipp smiled, David nodded and rose to his feet.
"It's right here." He replied, walking over to the sheeted object and lifting the corner, revealing a pair of headlights. Pipp's eyes widened as he pulled the sheet off completely.
"Wow!" She shouted, wide-eyed, David ran his fingers over the shiny paintwork.
"Yeah, she is something." David bluntly spoke, opening up the side of the car and sitting inside, Pipp trotted over and peeked inside.
"Nice decor, but could honestly do with a bit more colour if I say so myself." She smiled, pulling her head back out as David stepped out, closing what Pipp logically concluded to be the door.
"Hey... Pipp." David spoke, looking down at the mare as he sat down on the front of the car.
"Yes?" She replied, jumping up onto the front, sitting down also.
"What's it like, leaving without magic as a Pegasus? It must be hard not being able to fly." He looked up at the sky as seagulls flew overhead.
"Well, it wasn't fun. But that doesn't matter anymore! My friends and I brought the magic back!" She smiled proudly.
"Wait. Magic came back?" He looked over at her, she nodded her head rapidly, "That means... There's a chance." He muttered under his breath.
"Oh, hey!" They both heard, looking over towards the source of the voice, they saw Sunny standing at the end of the alleyway, the orange earth pony quickly ran towards them, "There you both are!" Sunny quickly pulled out her phone, "Zipp, Izzy found them both!" Sunny spoke the phone before placing it back in her bag as Zipp landed in front of Pipp and Izzy ran in from the other alley.
"Pipp! Sunny told you to stay put!" Zipp shouted. her wings flaring out in anger.
"Well excuse me! At least I found him. You were flying above, how did you not see him?! Pipp shouted back, pushing her face into Zipps, both noses touching.
"Are they always like this?" David asked Izzy. The Unicorn shook her head.
"I've never seen them be at each other's throats like this before." Izzy winced as Zipp shouted louder.
"Enough! Both of you!" Sunny shouted, pushing herself in between Pipp and Zipp. "What's important now is that we've found the human safe and sound." Sunny swatted her mane from her eye.
"Right. Before you both end up killing each other." Sunny spoke sharply, "We need to figure out what to do with him." Sunny gestured to David, "Like, he's going to need somewhere to live." The earth pony mare added, "Anypony got any ideas."
"He could always live with us at the Brighthouse." Izzy answered, booping her nose in the process.
"Yeah, not gonna happen." Zipp rebutted, "There's not enough space in our sleeping quarters to fit another bed in, especially a bed big enough to fit him."
"He can live above Mane Melody." Pipp stepped in.
"Why would you even suggest that?" Zipp turned to face her little sister.
"Well, for one thing, Mane Melody has an entire upstairs apartment that's not being used." Pipp looked at David, "What do you say?" She added, he shrugged.
"Better than nothing."
"Well, it's settled then." Sunny smiled, looking up at David, "Come on. Let's go find Hitch, he'll be able to help you get settled.
End of Chapter Four.